America’s largest Protestant denomination has reported another year of declining membership, marking an 18-year downward trend.
According to the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC)Annual Church Profile released on Wednesday, fewer Americans belonged to Southern Baptist congregations in 2024 than at any point in the last fifty years.
Yet, despite the decline in overall membership, SBC leaders are reporting positive growth. One notable area is baptisms. In 2023, SBC churches baptised over 250,000 people - up 10 pe cent from the previous year. This is the first time since the late 1980s and early 90s that the denomination has seen four consecutive years of baptism growth.
Whilst traditional Southern Baptist strongholds such as Georgia, Florida, and Texas topped the list, each reporting at least 25,000 baptisms - some of the most significant increases were seen outside the South. Wyoming, Arizona, New York, and Indiana experienced baptism growth of more than 50 per cent between 2023 and 2024.
Weekly attendance has also risen, with SBC churches averaging 4.3 million attendees, and 2.5 million participants in small group Bible studies, both up about 6 per cent from the previous year. These increases are among the highest since the 1990s - however, they could be partially due to a post-covid rebound in attendance.
Kevin Ezell, president of the SBC’s North American Mission Board, told Christianity Today: “As Southern Baptists stay focused on the gospel and are faithful to share it, I know we will see God work and these numbers will continue to rise.”
The report comes ahead of the SBC’s annual meeting in June. Delegates are expected to address issues such as the SBC’s abuse investigation, and the denomination’s stance on women in ministry.
The SBC currently has over 46,800 congregations - an overall loss of 30 from the previous year. The decrease includes church closures and congregations which no longer affiliate with the denomination. In 2024, four churches were declared not “in friendly cooperation” over issues relating women in leadership, lapses in giving and mishandling of sexual abuse cases.